How to lose 1 pound per week

No matter what time you eat, what foods you eat or how much fat is in your food, it all comes down to CALORIES! You can still eat whatever you like when you diet, but you have to count the calories.

Technically you could put weight on from eating celery, you would just have to eat a lot of it. In contrast, you can lose weight and still eat chocolate, you just can't eat too much of it. Of course you will feel better if you feed your body with the right fuel, just like a car engine will work best with the right petrol. Yet you can still overindulge in healthy foods and this won't lead to weight loss. 

To lose 1/2 a kilo per week or 1 pound, you need to have a 500 calorie deficit in your calorie budget. 

For example, if you weigh 50 kilos, you burn about 1300 calories per day. To lose 1/2 kilo a week, you need to get your total calorie bank down to 800 calories a day. To do this, you can eat 1100 calories per day and burn 300 calories per day to equal the 800 calorie mark. This will add up over the week to burn the 1/2 kilo of weight. This is a flexible bank meaning if one day you do a big workout that burns 500 calories, you can eat more that day or take the calories off another day if you are going out and want to drink a glass of wine.

To manage this system, it is most helpful to have a calorie and exercise diary that you maintain daily. Big cardio workouts will burn the most calories, which is helpful if you have overdone it in the calorie intake one day. Likewise, sugary foods will have calories that are the least satisfying so it is helpful to avoid these types of foods when dieting.

When following this weight loss plan, over one week you will have saved 3500 calories, which adds up to the 1/2 a kilo or 1 pound! Over three months, this will equal 3 kilos. Once you have reached your goal weight, you can go back up to eating calories to stay at your weight (eg. 1300 calories a day). If you keep on the program, you will continue to lose weight so make sure you adjust your energy intake up to what your body's needs are as soon as you reach your goal weight.

Look up the recommended calories for your weight then you will know how much you can eat and how much you will need to exercise to equal the daily 500 calorie deficit.

Here is an example of what I eat on this program.

Breakfast:
1 sachet of instant oats
1/2 cup of low-fat soy milk or almond milk
1 sachet of natvia sugar substitute
(150 calories)

Lunch:
1 wholemeal wrap with salad and poached chicken
or
Tofu vegetable stir fry
(250 calories)

Snack:
1 large rice cake with fat-free cheese slice
or
Diet yoghurt tub with blueberries or raspberries
(100 calories)

Dinner:
Steamed vegetables and grilled fish
or
Chicken vegetable stirfry with sunflower seeds
(250 calories)

Treat:
1 row of dark chocolate (sugar-free)
or 
1 large piece of fruit (apple, pear, orange, etc)
(100 calories
or
10 almonds

Total calories consumed:
850 calories

Exercise:
30 minutes of cross-trainer and 30 minutes of strength training
Burned 250 calories

850 - 250 = 600

Total: 600 calories total intake, burned an extra 200 calories today...

Here is an example of a day when you can eat some treat foods:

Breakfast:
Fruit salad
(150 calories)

Snack:
1 skinny sweets cupcake
(200 calories)

Lunch:
Chicken salad
(250 calories)

Dinner:
2 pieces of pizza at a restaurant with small amount of cheese
(450 calories)

Treat:
2 glasses of wine
(250 calories)

Total:
1300 calories

Execise:
1 hour power walk 300 calories.

1300 - 300 = 1000

Total: 1000 calories for the day.

Can reduce this down to 800 calories because you had 200 calories in your bank from yesterday.

It is handy to have a calorie count book with you to look up foods. Some foods especially those fried will have a lot of calories and you will just find these to hard to include on this diet because they need so much work to burn off.

Good luck!

Me before the program

Me after the program (lost 5 kilos)